The psychosocial costs of heterosexism to straights: A focus group study.

= 10) participants. Using reflexive thematic analysis, we identified three major domains of these psychosocial costs of heterosexism: distorted relationships, heteronormative restraints to self-exploration, and sexual ignorance. Results highlight how heterosexism has harmed straight people's relationships, hindered their identity exploration and expression, and limited straight people's ability to seek and obtain sexual knowledge. Findings yield insight for counseling psychologists' clinical work with straight people, including identity exploration and relationships with LGBTQ+ people. These findings point to potential avenues for advocacy with straight allies, particularly in terms of inter- and intragroup dialogue. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).